I believe I was put on this earth to…

I believe I was put on earth in order to experience life. 

 

My purpose is to…

My purpose is to experience life and be kind when possible. 

 

I believe (my core values)…

My core values are to work hard, spread positivity and to be as empathetic as possible.  

 

The one thing I must do before I die is…

The one thing I must do before I die is connect with others and form positive relationships. I also want to find a career that I feel productive and useful. 

 

My advocates and supporters all believe that I…

My supporters believe that I am hardworking and am very competitive. 

 

The evil I want to eradicate in this world is…

One evil in the world that would be interested in eradicating animal cruelty. This is something that I am passionate about and would be interested in wrong towards in the future. 

 

I want to work in order to…

I want to work in order to be more at peace. 

 

Walk the Talk – Your How

If you are truly committed to your Why, you show it in your everyday behavior. It is all air until you do it. Working from your Why, How do you prove that you are true to your Why in all you do?

 

I always…

I always try to choose the option that causes the least amount of harm to others. 

 

I never…

I never purposely make a decision that would cause direct harm to someone else. I have to do this sometimes but I try to do as little as possible. 

 

My work style is…

My work style is to get focused on my goals and work towards them. 

 

I try to treat people…

I try to treat people with as much empathy as possible. 

 

I approach problems by…

I approach problems by thinking as much as possible about them. I think I could benefit from thinking a little bit less about issues.

 

Victories are time to…

Technically everything could be a victory if you are able to learn something from it. 

 

If someone attacks my point of view I…

If someone attacks my point of view I usually won’t say anything about it unless I’m really close with them.

 

If I fundamentally do not agree with what an organization or person is doing, I will…

If I fundamentally do not agree with what an organization or person is doing, I will not typically get associated with them. 

 

Your Credibility – Your Whats 

You have spent some considerable time at Lehigh, and specifically in the Impact Fellowships, on many whats. Your whats include lab research, formal presentations, writing research papers, engaging with people in other cultural contexts, building prototypes, designing and building systems, raising funds, hiring employees, etc. The whats you have collected along the way are critical to your credibility when you are entering the workforce or applying to the best graduate and professional schools. They signify a credible currency to which organizations can assign value. Create a list of your Whats that are truly reflective of your Why & How. You did these things because you believe (Why) and you acquired them in the following (How) manner. These are examples you can use in interviews.

 

What Have I Done	List of Experiences, Accomplishments, and Lessons Learned
Degrees, Minors, Certificates, Fellowships	Bioengineering, GSIF
Research Experiences	AgriWrap lab work: Got time to practice performing experiments, recording, and sharing results
Inventions and Innovations	LUSI Mars Rover (Device that takes up sol sample and can determine if life is habitable there)
(Social) Entrepreneurial Ventures	AgriWrap Venture: Got experience networking, forming partnerships, and writing research paper
Publications (Formal and Informal)	Plastic use by street vendors (Not finished yet)
Formal Presentations (at Lehigh and Beyond)	End of semester AgriWrap presentation; Presentations in the Philippines
Awards and  External Recognition	No awards yet

 

Articulating and learning from IF-related Experiences. For each of these prompts, we want you to identify one and only one specific and compelling event/incident/experience/moment and identify exactly how you grew personally and professionally through that moment.

 

Teamwork Experience (and Lessons Learned)	While we were performing fieldwork during the summer it was difficult because we did not have a specific direction for our project. It was a challenge but by working together as a team we were able to find ways to make our time in the Philippines productive. From this I learned that sometimes it is more difficult actually just getting a project started and things are more smooth sailing once you get over this hurdle.
Conflict Resolution Experience (and Lessons Learned)	We experienced conflict in our team about the extent to which we wanted to interview street vendors. Some members thought that it would be better to perform in-depth interviews for a few vendors while others thought it would be more productive to just observe many vendors. We decided to create a short list of questions to ask each vendor.
Leadership Experience (and Lessons Learned)	During the first semester all members of the group had one meeting that they would run. When it was my turn to run a meeting I had to create a plan and then guide the conversation during the meeting to make sure we covered everything important. From this I learned the importance of planning ahead and being prepared for meetings.
Dealing with Chaos, Ambiguity, and Uncertainty (and Lessons Learned)	We were supposed to have a meeting with one of the manufacturers we spoke with but then at the last minute were not able to meet there because Grabs (Uber equivalent) did not run in the area the meeting was supposed to be in. Last minute we needed to find a way to be productive with our time. From this I learned the importance of staying flexible in ambiguous situations.
Personally Challenging Experience (and Lessons Learned)	A time that I was outside of my comfort zone was while we spoke with street vendors to better understand the products that they sell and the packaging associated with it. I am a more reserved person so starting up conversations with strangers was definitely outside of my comfort zone. Still by putting myself out there we were able to collect a lot of useful information.
Cross-cultural Experience (and Lessons Learned)	When we spoke to street vendors some did not speak English very much. We needed to figure out how to navigate this situation and still effectively communicate. From this I learned the importance of patience. The conversations took longer but we were still able to get the information we needed.
An experience that helped you connect your IF work to your discipline / major.	We were able to perform lab work last semester to get a better basic understanding of how plastics are created. Since my major is bioengineering it was interesting to see how I can apply what I am learning in class to work that has the potential to make a positive impact.
A moment that boosted your sense of agency and self-efficacy – you felt like you could speak for yourself, get stuff done, take on the world and make it better.	While in the Philippines we presented our project to a group of other startup owners. Afterwards we got a lot of good feedback and recommendations for our project. Additionally after the presentations we spoke with other groups and found one that is very relevant to our project. We ended up connecting and meeting up with them later to discuss how our projects could collaborate. It was nice to see that by sharing our project we were able to form a new partnership.
A moment where you felt like you were making the future – like you were creating something that had never before existed and would (or could) influence your future and that of others.	We met a group called AlgoPlast that creates bioplastic pellets out of seaweed. It was motivating to see how far their project progressed because it seems like they started out in a similar place to our project. Their initial goal was to tackle the plastic pollution issue. They then realize that the main cost driving up bioplastic costs was that materials needed to be imported from other countries. They then focused on creating bioplastic pellets that could be locally sourced. This is a similar path that our project is currently on so it is motivating to see how successful they were.
A moment where you felt like you truly have a strong sense of purpose and belonging in this dynamic, globalized, interdependent world.	We are currently writing a paper on street vendors’ use of plastic in the Philippines. I am excited that we are writing a paper on a specific topic that has not been written about yet. I hope that this paper will be able to help other research groups collect information that are studying similar topics.

Draw Your Life

What’s Your True North?

 

Create the story of your life. How do you want to contribute to the world through your talents, passions, and unique strengths? Think about your values, the roles you play, what gives you a sense of purpose, and ultimately, what you have to offer by being your best, authentic self. Draw a picture of your life as you envision it. Be remarkable. Be yourself.